Random Generation: Cleric

Random Generation: Cleric

You can generate a cleric character using the following procedure:
1. Take the base template (below), rolling attributes as shown in the template.
2. Roll 1d3 twice on Table 1 to determine your alignment. If you prefer the classic law-chaos axis, just roll 1d3 once, ignoring the good-evil axis.
3. Roll on Table 2 to determine your pact disadvantage(s) for your divine abilities.
4. Determine an archetype by rolling on Table 3.
            4.1. Choose an appropriate patron deity or determine it randomly
            4.2. Roll 1d3 – this is the number of spells known at the start. Pick a domain from the list of domains of your patron deity, note down spells that cost 20 points or less, and determine a spell from them randomly. Continue until you have all the spells.
5. Roll 3dx40 to determine your extra money in $.
            5.1. Optionally, purchase a delver kit (DF13, pp. 5-6).
6. Roll 3 times on Table 3 to determine extra advantages.
7. Roll 3 times on Table 4 to determine extra disadvantages.
8. Roll 5 times on Table 5 to determine secondary skills.
9. Roll 6 times on Table 6 to determine background skills.
10. Roll 1d-2 times on Table 7 to determine languages.
11. Roll on Table 8 to determine appearance.
12. Roll 17 + 1d to determine the starting age.
 

Random Generation: Ranger

Random Generation: Ranger

You can generate a ranger character using the following procedure:
1. Take the base template (below), rolling attributes as shown in the template.
2. Determine an armor loadout by rolling on Table 1.
3. Determine a weapon loadout by rolling on Table 2.
4. Roll 3dx40 to determine your extra money in $.
            4.1. Optionally, purchase a delver kit (DF13, pp. 5-6).
5. Roll 3 times on Table 3 to determine extra advantages.
6. Roll 3 times on Table 4 to determine extra disadvantages.
7. Roll 4 times on Table 5 to determine secondary skills.
8. Roll 6 times on Table 6 to determine background skills.
9. Roll 1d-2 times on Table 7 to determine languages.
10. Roll on Table 8 to determine appearance.
11. Roll 17 + 1d to determine the starting age.

Random Generation: Sorcerer

Random Generation: Sorcerer

You can generate a sorcerer character using the following procedure:
1. Take the base template (below), rolling attributes as shown in the template.
2. Determine an armor loadout by rolling on Table 1.
3. Determine a weapon loadout by rolling on Table 2.
4. Roll 3dx40 to determine your extra money in $.
            4.1. Optionally, purchase a delver kit (DF13, pp. 5-6).
5. Roll once on Table 3 to determine sorcerer bloodline.
6. Your bloodline will have college or theme-based scope limitations. For each scope or theme that has its own table, roll on the Starting Spells table 1d4-2 (minimum 1) times and take these spells as alternative abilities. Then roll 1d6; on 1-2, take a number of levels of Sorcerous Empowerment limited with your bloodline scope limitation enough to take the most expensive spell rolled as an alternative ability.
7. Roll 3 times on Table 4 to determine extra advantages.
8. Roll 3 times on Table 5 to determine extra disadvantages.
9. Roll 4 times on Table 6 to determine secondary skills.
10. Roll 4 times on Table 7 to determine background skills.
11. Roll 1d-2 times on Table 8 to determine languages.
12. Roll on Table 9 to determine appearance.
13. Roll 17 + 1d to determine the starting age.

Please note that some steps may refer to not-yet-existent tables, such as the Expert Skill table.

Random Generation: Starting Spells

Random Generation: Starting Spells

So far I’ve made two sets of tables for random character generation – for fighters and bards. Next up in the queue is the sorcerer, but the sorcerer is a spellcaster. Not only is he a sorcerer, but also one whose scope of powers depends on the bloodline, and there are hundreds of them (yes, the table will be comically large). How do you determine the starting spells then? I do not want to make hundreds of bloodline-specific tables – that’s too much even for me. I’m going to make things easy for myself and instead make random tables for colleges and themes – after all, almost all bloodlines have their scope defined as 1-4 colleges or themes. These tables will also be useful for other spellcasters, such as wizards.

Wizardry: Legacy Underdark Spells

Wizardry: Legacy Underdark Spells

Usually, I determine books from which to convert spells randomly, and this is one of such cases. I rolled Weapons of Legacy. Does anyone even remember this book? Back in the day, I remember it being not well received and almost forgotten. I actually like the concept of the book, even if the execution wasn't very good (allegedly, because I've never used it myself). The gist of it is that you get a unique weapon that gains new abilities as you level up. GURPS actually has this as the Named Possession perk. Weapons of Legacy has only a few spells, and only one of them is worth even looking at when it comes to adapting to wizardry.

Sever Legacy doesn't simply remove the Named Possession perk, but also all the similar [X] Bond perks. You may notice that the duration is Truly Permanent even though the statblock has Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%. Why? Because look at the spell. Do you think it is worth 32-40 points? Would it be better if it were 15 points more expensive? "Permanent" by default must include a dispel clause, and "spend 1 point to buy the perk again" is probably enough. This is mostly a spell for NPCs to use against the PCs. I can imagine it being more useful in Oriental settings, with all the samurai and ancestral swords.

All right, but a post with a single spell would be lame, so I rolled another book and got Underdark. Now that's a good one. Some of the spells already were adapted, but there are some interesting ones left. Perfect.

Amorphous Form is a spell that turns you into an ooze. Perfect for assassins and other infiltrators.

Blindsight adds a new sense to the subject. I changed the wording of the Vibration Sense advantage somewhat to make it more clear what it does.

Burrow gives the subject tough claws that can be used as weapons or shovels.

Clarity of Mind is a rather boring buff spell that is nonetheless useful.

Drown is a save-or-die spell that I didn't build via Choking, +100%, because the suffocation rules in GURPS are... all over the place. I'm paying for effect, so this is a variant of Heart Attack here.

Locate Node is the first of the spells that deal with "earth nodes." The earth nodes are very similar to the ley line nodes in GURPS, so I decided to make this spell more generic and treat earth nodes as ley line nodes with flavored mana.

Mass Burrow is a mass version of Burrow for situations when you really need to do some digging done quick.

Node Door is a teleportation spell that only works between ley line nodes.

Node Genesis creates a new ley line node.

Node Lock hides the ley line node from others and penalizes attempts to use/affect it. I made it with Obscure because... because I did, okay?

Portal Barricade temporarily closes a portal.

Portal Stabilization temporarily increases the Malfunction number of a portal.

Portal-to-Portal Redirect allows you to change the destination of a portal.

Portal Reformat adds or removes keys to a portal (this is related to D&D portal metaphysics).

Portal View makes a portal transparent from one side.

Stick is a perk-level spell that affixes one object to another.

Stone Metamorphosis lets you transmute rock.

Stone Sphere allows you to play bowling in the dungeon.

Tremorsense adds a new sense to the subject. I remember that in the past I used to build it as Vibration Sense with Environmental, Ground, -20%, but Subsonic Hearing is a more appropriate option, according to GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses.

Viscid Glob is a rather powerful spell that engulfs creatures in sticky goo.

Wall of Dispel Magic is self-explanatory.

Random Generation: Bard

Random Generation: Bard

Back in the day, I wrote a post with some random tables that would let you quickly generate a fighter. Now, here's another set of tables that will let you generate a bard.

Low-Tech Musical Instrument Costs and Weights

Low-Tech Musical Instrument Costs and Weights

Bard is my least favorite "core" class. Despite that, I've been a bit frustrated because GURPS doesn't have that many low-tech musical instruments detailed. There are several on page 49 of GURPS Low-Tech, a few in DF1 and DF8, and a whole bunch of skill specialties in LTC1 with examples, but without costs and weights. I have no idea what 90% of these instruments even are. I found people asking about this on the forums and getting "it's too difficult to research" in response. If even GURPS authors found it too difficult to research, then I will not even try. I decided to look into D&D books (Song & Silence, The Quintessential Bard I and II), but found only lists of instruments with no costs and weights. Thus, I fed the data from GURPS Low-Tech into Deepseek and told it to extrapolate/interpolate the values. So, here's the slop.